News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-04-14
NO ONE CAN GET 1T.
THOSE WHO TRY ARE KNOCKED
OVER By TH:TNDERBOLTS.
The Buried Treasures of Cane
Breton Island-DanieI Matheson's
story-NeaI McNeil's Iron Pot
4 Rare Find.

People who have visited Cape Breto
Island and have made the Acquaintance
OF the people living along the shores c
Lake Bras dor have found the inhabi
tants, almost without exception, full c
the idea that the country around is ric
with gold, buried there by the old Frencl
inhabitants during the perilous time
when Cape Breton was a French prov
ince. More than that, the cOves an,
bays of the lakes are said to have beel
favorite retreats for French pirates an'
buccaneers who royed the Spanish main
until their feet schooners and sloop
were laden with gold, silver, brass, scral
iron, wide Capt. Kidd, and other treas
ureS, and then hied them away to Cap
Breton to cool off in the sylvan shade
and battle in the waters of Bras dor
There was no great place thereabouts t,
squander treasures then, and so all tn
yaluables they had left after laying In
stock of fish for use on fast days (for tn,
French pirates were strict observers O
the forms of religiOn) were buried. 0
course, the pirates were either drowned
at sea or captured and hanged on the
shore, so that the treasures remained
buried in the old baking kettles anC
great square iron boxes that served then
Ill lieu of the safe deposit vaults of these
days. Even the poorer people in those
days, if the Cape Breton people may bG
believed, were not without their stock
ings and teapots well filed with shining
French coin, for mackerel were so plenti-
ful in the waters along shore that full
fares were taken with scoop shovels and
sold after curing for from SIS to $24 a
Z. !. I L. II, e
hidden wealth just beneath the sod run
ming constantly In their minds by day it
is little wonder that the Cape Breton
people dream by night of finding boards
of gold and precious stones, and that oc-
casionally influenced by repetitons of
the same dream, man now and then
shoulders a pick and shovel, trudges off
by night to some secluded spot and
there digs for hidden treasure, never
doubling it is there, though neighbors
have labOred yainly ON similar quests
not even though he may himself have
lost sleep in the same fruitless toll on
previous occasions. The toll was fruit
less because some mysterious power
guarded the treasure.
In one of the new fiat houses on top
of the hill at the foot of East Forty-first
street, No. 347, lives Daniel Matheson,
a man who has spent number of years
ON Cape Breton and about the shores of
Lake Bras dor. He is quiet and I'M
assuming, and in conversation shows
that he is intelligent and well posted.
During his residence among the Cape
Breton folks he learned all about their
stories of hidden wealth, and although
at first he was, as he says, very skeptical
about them, he was at last convinced Of
their trIthfulness against his will by
what he believes he saw and felt. This
is what he tells as his experience in
searching for Cape Breton treasure:
''A friend of mine named Donald Nc
Neal and his brother Neal McNeal lived
on small bay or cove of Lake Bras dor,
called by dialect name which, ON being
translated, means Anchorage of the Cat.
Neal had often been told in his dreams
of pot of coin buried under an ash
tree which stood on hill side overlook
ing bit of swamp along shore, but re-
fused to be influenced by the dreams.
Even when the mysterious visitor told
him In his sleep that in proof of the ex-
istence of the coin he would find on the
under side of big rock in his garden
certain hieroglyphics, he was too skep-
teal or too sensitive TO the ridicule of
his neighbOrs to turn the rock over to
see If the marks were there. However,
about three years ago, having concluded
to build a new house, he said to his
brother Donald: we will use the rock
for corner stone to the house, and viii
roll it over for luck So they rolled
the rock over with much effort, and were
struck dumb with amazement. There
were the marks which Neal had describ-
ed so accurately after awakening from
his dream.
''That convinced them, and it partly
convinced me. It was extraordinary
enough to make me want to test the
matter further. So I sent to Boston to
Il man had heard of for a mineral rod,
for which paid 80. 1t was simply
glass tube six inches long and half an
inch thick, filed with mercury and
chemicals that, combined, are attracted
by precious metals. 1t was attached to
two strips of whalebone. If a man
without too much iron in his blood took
hold of these whalebones so that the end
of one slip ran through his left hand,
the extreme end of the bone resting on
the ball Of his thumb, and the end of
the other bone rested in like manner in
his right hand, the glass tube standing
erect before his face, the tube would
drop down as soon as the man holding
it approached any considerable mass of
precious metal. We sent for neighbor
named Mckenzie, and without telling
him of Meals dreams, gave him the rod
and told him to search for gold. He
took wide circle round the house, the
tube erect before his face, until he came
in line with the ash tree on the hillside
near the swamp. Then the rod pitched
that way, though the tree was a quarter
of a mile off He said: 4 feel the power.
There is gold over that way So he
walked straight ahead, the rod leading
him directly to the root of the tree
where it pointed down vertically. He
released the rod, walked beyond the tree,
and, standing with his back to it, grasp
ed the rod again with the tube erect.
Instantly it flew back, striking him in
the face.
eve were convinced, and that night
went to the place and dug. All went
well until, Judging by the angle of the
rod in the hands of Mckenzie, there
was but six inches of earth over the
gold, and then to our distress we found
that it was sinking as rapidly as we dug.
We worked more rapidly, but all in
vain. Then we got down ON our knees
and showed our hands into the mould,
and found the pot. It was in fact an
old-fashioned iron baking pot, such as
people used to bake bread in up that
way. 1t was foot across with a flow
ing brim and of unknown depth. But
when we touched it we received such an
electric shock as made us draw back
hastily and then the pot fled away, but
the mineral rod showed that it was To-
Gated eleven feet to one side.
''We gave it up then for that night
Next night we went again, and, as we
anticipated, the pot was under the big
ash tree. We ran an iron rod down
first and located it, and again We showed
our hands down and felt it, but we
could not get the cover off because of
the electric shocks. To circumvent the
influence that had carried the pot away
the night before We drove stout wooden
stakes down around it in circle, all the
time making sure that the pot was there
both by sounding with the rod and by
feeling with our hands. When the
stakes were in place we carefully went
to work again, but there came an arrow
of fame through the air, striking one of
the McNeals senseless, sheet of fire
burst out of the ground, and then the
pot with q crash shot off to one side as
before. We hauled otis the stakes, and
found four of them cut off clean where
the pot had passed through.
"What was it! The stakes are now
hanging in McNeals kitchen as curiosi-
ties, where any one may see them. Can